The present invention relates to medical devices, and more particularly, to components cooperable with endoscopes having an elevator.
Endoscopic devices have been commonly used for various procedures, typically in the abdominal area. Endoscopy is the examination and inspection of the interior of body organs, joints or cavities through an endoscope. Endoscopy allows physicians to peer through the body's passageways. An endoscopic procedure may be used to diagnose various conditions by close examination of internal organ and body structures and may also guide therapy and repair, such as the removal of torn cartilage from the bearing surfaces of a joint. A biopsy, a procedure involving tissue sampling for pathologic testing, may also be performed under endoscopic guidance. For example, endoscopic procedures include the following known procedures: gastroscopy, sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy, esophago gastro duodenoscopy (EGD), endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and bronchoscopy.
The use of endoscopic treatments has recently increased for some diseases occurring in the gastrointestinal or pancreatobiliary duct systems. Endoscope systems are used frequently for diagnostic procedures, including contrast imaging of biliary or pancreatic ducts. Endoscopes are also used in procedures for retrieving gallstones that exist in the common bile duct and elsewhere.
Typically, these treatments are performed in the pancreatic duct, bile duct, and the hepatic duct by positioning the distal end of an endoscope in the vicinity of the duodenal papilla. Once the endoscope is in place, a wire guide is delivered to the target anatomy via the working channel of the endoscope. In order to guide the wire guide (or other medical instruments) out of the working channel of the endoscope, a rigid elevator is typically used to orient or deflect the distal end of the wire guide. When the distal end of the wire guide is oriented, the wire guide is inserted into the target anatomy. At this point in the procedure, a catheter or similar treatment instrument can be passed over the wire guide either in a conventional over-the-wire style to the target anatomy.
Often, and in particular, during ERCP procedures, there is a need to precisely control the orientation of the device (e.g., catheter or wire) in the anatomy of a patient. One notable example of this requirement is the need, during ERCP, to orient an electrocautery sphincterotome with its cutting wire towards the superior margin of the papillary orifice in order to reduce the chances of cutting the wall of the duodenum of the pancreatic duct. One of the more common means of controlling orientation of such a device in the patient anatomy is to control the device orientation with respect to the endoscope as the device exits the working channel. This can often be accomplished during ERCP procedures because the endoscope is usually held in one of two positions in the patient anatomy. For both positions, the superior margin of the papillary orifice is typically oriented laterally adjacent or at a “twelve-o'clock” position relative the endoscopic view. Thus, if a sphincterotome can repeatably and reliably exit the endoscope working channel with its cutting wire oriented at the twelve-o'clock position, the cutting wire could be more precisely oriented in the patient anatomy.
Additionally, other medical devices such as catheters are disposed through the working channel of an endoscope for various treatments and procedures wherein an elevator is used to position the device at a target location in the patient anatomy. Current endoscopes with elevators simply actuate or lift the elevator relative to the distal tip of an insertion tube to move the device from one location to another. However, there is a need to incrementally and relatively precisely move the device further from the distal tip of the insertion tube after actuation of the elevator.
Moreover, as diagnostic and therapeutic procedures progress, various devices are withdrawn from, or are introduced into the patient, via the wire guide. This swapping of devices over the wire is known as an exchange, and several exchanges may occur during a single endoscopy procedure.
An aspect of successful exchanges is maintaining the position of the wire guide within the patient. The position of the endoscope does not often change appreciably once procedures have started. One way of maintaining wire guide access during exchanges is to temporarily anchor the wire to the endoscope. As such, recent developments in the market include wire locking devices that attach to the handle portion of the endoscope in the region of the inlet to the device channel. This affords the clinician the opportunity of directly locking the wire to the endoscope. In new developments, some endoscopes may be utilized to lock the wire to the endoscope at its distal tip within the patient. This gives the clinician the ability to lock the wire to the endoscope indirectly by activating the elevator. However, there is a concern of wedging the device, e.g., catheter and wire, within the endoscope since the locking would occur inside the patient and outside the view of the endoscope. Thus, there is a need to minimize wedging or unintended locking of a medical device, e.g., a catheter or a wire guide, when used within an endoscope while maintaining position of the medical device within the patient anatomy.